Where Spirits Have Lease

Location: AnvilAsk around Anvil for rumors and you'll learn that Velwyn Benirus is looking to sell his house and on the cheap. He is located at The Count's Arms. When you ask him for the house, he offers it up for an extremely reasonable price. It seems fishy and the house doesn't look to great on the outside, but you may as well spend the few thousand gold on this fixer upper.

After the house is purchased, you can enter the manor. The inside looks just as run down and beat up as the outside did. Go upstairs and locate the bed for a nap. You'll be awakened by a crash and several ghosts attacking you. Deal with the undead enemies and go downstairs to investigate the crash. Look for a glowing green pot that fell onto the floor. When it fell and broke, it revealed a page from a diary and a skeletal hand. Take both and go back to the Count's Arms to demand an explanation from Velwyn.

Not surprisingly, Velwyn took off as soon as he unloaded that haunted manor on you. You'll learn this by talking to the man behind the counter at the Count's Arms. Rumor has it that he left for the Imperial City.

Velwyn is hiding out in the Imperial City in the Elven Garden District at the King and Queen Tavern. He can be found either downstairs or up in his room, though you'll have to pick a lock to get to him while he is asleep. If you question him without the diary page and skeleton hand in your inventory, he'll refuse to come back with you. If you do have them, however, he'll feel bad since it is clear that only he can lift the curse and agree to meet with you back at the Count's Arms to discuss the next plan of action.

Get back to the Count's Arms and wait around until Velwyn shows up. When he does, speak to him and tell him you're read. Follow him over to the manor which will once again be populated by ghosts. Ignore them and go down to the basement. At the far end of the basement is a strange symbol etched on the wall. Bring Velwyn there and then protect yourself while he works his magic. As soon as he lifts the curse, the ghosts will disappear. Approach the wall and activate the symbol to reveal a hidden door.

Explore the room and you'll find some nice loot in a sack in the back corner, as well as some other goodies at the desk in the front such as the rare book "Tome of Unlife". Approach the altar and activate it. The voice of Lorgren Benirus will begin talking to you. When he's done, activate the altar again and you'll place that skeletal hand you picked up a while back on the body. This will bring Lorgren back to life in the form of a Lich. Kill him and take his staff. The last thing for you to do is to return to Velwyn and tell him what happened.

Your reward for this quest, other than the treasure you found in the secret room, is the house in Anvil. This is the only house that you get fully furnished without spending a ton of money to add furniture and other assorted things. As soon as Velwyn lifted the curse on the house, you get all of those things instantly as everything reverts back to its lovely state instead of being trashed.